Hague Service Convention

News: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sought assistance from India’s Ministry of Law and Justice under the Hague Service Convention to serve summons on billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani in a securities and wire fraud case.

About Hague Service Convention

• It is formally known as the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters (1965).
• It is a multilateral treaty designed to facilitate the efficient and reliable transmission of legal documents in civil and commercial matters across international borders.
• It ensures that individuals or entities involved in legal proceedings receive proper notice while also providing proof of service in cross-border cases.
• It is applicable when both the requesting and receiving countries are signatories.
• The Convention has been adopted by 84 countries, including the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Canada, and most of Europe.
• Each member state must designate a central authority responsible for receiving, processing, and facilitating service requests from other signatory nations.

Key Objectives of the Hague Service Convention

• To establish a standardized process for serving legal documents in foreign jurisdictions.
• To ensure that defendants receive timely and actual notice of judicial proceedings.
• To prevent delays and procedural challenges in international litigation.
• To streamline communication between the judicial systems of different countries.